As I kept my inner monologue going everyone else was getting out of their seats, including Ansel. My eyes still glued to his hands, I noticed he had frozen in his tracks.

I looked up at his face and realized I may have been noticed. If possible, his eyes would've been literal question marks with more of them floating around his head. 

I decided it was best to pretend as if I had done nothing strange, so I veiled my real thoughts behind my well-practiced poker face. 

As I was internally cursing myself out for staring at this poor guy like a dumbass, I tilted my head as if to ask him what was wrong. To my surprise it seemed like this caused him to snap out of it whatever "it" was and he practically flew out of the room.

I was left with a now very out of context Whatever could be wrong, sir?-look on my face and nothing but embarrassment to lean on. I managed to gather myself after the wave of embarrassment subsided, and the next class went by noticeably slower than the last.

It was in a different classroom and not taught by Ms. Garnet, so our seats were also not exactly the same.

While I was able to switch my seats away from Kel in every class, I was not seated next to Ansel in each of them. I honestly think the reason that even really mattered to me was because focusing on Ansel had allowed me to push away any unpleasant thoughts regarding the stares directed towards me. 

**

Besides the giggles in Ms. Garnet’s class, and the constant ogling, nothing much happened. This being said, I didn’t trust the uneventfulness of the day one bit. I knew they had already laid their grimy hands on Ansel, so I was constantly on edge, waiting for something else to happen.

But time continued to move slowly, uneventfully, and before I realized it was lunchtime.

As the day had sluggishly moved forward, I decided to skip having lunch in the cafeteria. I always packed some emergency snacks into my backpack, so I thought it might just be a good idea to find a quiet place somewhere and dig into those instead.

I felt like choosing to subject myself to the presence of Kel&Co when I had my daily dose just in the first class alone would just be masochistic.

Good thing I knew just the spot to go to. My spot.